Amity and Anxieties
by HeRonFan
Summary: The effects of the locket horcrux are explored during tent duty one night before Ron's departure.


Amity and Anxieties

Category: General

Sub-Category: Romance Ron and Hermione, Angst

Word Count: 2289

Synopsis: The locket's powers over each of the trio is explored during tent duty on a rainy night. Everyone's vulnerabilities are exposed in this story just before Ron's departure.

Ron lay in his bunk staring at the canvas above him, seeing but not seeing. He couldn't sleep and tonight the patter of rain drops on the canvas that he usually found comforting to fall asleep to wasn't doing its normal job. His bedroom at the Burrow on the top most floor echoed the sound of raindrops. It was always comforting. Not tonight. He should be sleeping; his shift would start at 3am at the opening of the tent, but his mind would not shut down.

At nine, he had taken off the damn locket and handed it over to Hermione. Her shift would end soon , at midnight, and Harry would take over. He wondered if the locket was affecting her, and how. His head was clear at the moment, but when he wore it he always felt unwelcome with them. Harry was the necessary one, Hermione had the brain power and preparation skills. What good was he to them? Sometimes they shared a joke between them. Was it about him? Why did they want him along? One moment things were clear, then in a second he was so irritated. Right now he was just trying to make sense of it all.

He heard Harry get out of bed and watched as he put on two more sweaters and a light jacket. Grabbing his wand and the map, he headed toward the entrance of the tent to relieve Hermione.

"Hey, time's up, my turn," he said as he approached her.

Hermione jumped at his words and sniffled; she ran her hand over her eyes. Ron was sure she was clearing them of tears. "Oh, thanks. See you in the morning."

"Hermione!" Harry called after her and motioned to the chain around her neck.

"Oh, yeah," said Hermione and she quickly removed the locket and handed it to Harry, glad to be rid of it. He nodded his acceptance and placed it around his neck and moved to occupy the chair she had just vacated.

Hermione went to the washroom a few minutes. When she returned she removed her shoes and lit some bluebell flames beside her bed. Thinking no one was paying attention; she reached into her rucksack and pulled out a book. She sat cross legged on her bed and flipped through the pages until found what she was after: a picture of her and her parents visting Thorpe Park. They had had so much fun there, and it was the last family vacation she had had with her parents. A few pages later she found a picture of her parents' wedding, her Grade 1 show and tell with her hamster, another of she and her dad sipping a chocolate milk together. She loved this one since her parents rarely let her have sweets, but this was an exception. The next photo was of their skiing holiday and another in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Hearing her begin to cry, Ron got out of bed, pulled on a sweater and walked quietly over to her. She was oblivious to his presence as the rush of memories flooded her. Whenever she wore the locket, she missed her parents more. Tonight was worse. "Hey," said a quiet voice. Startled, she jerked her head up and quickly fumbled to close the book. Ron was standing in front of her, his hand outstretched offering a facial tissue box. "You, OK?" The question sounded dumb to his own ears; obviously she was not.

Hermione gratefully took a tissue and wiped her nose with it, tucking it in her sleeve afterwards. Ron shook his head. That must be a female thing; his mother did that. She began to hide the book but he caught her wrist and gently slipped the book from her grasp.

"No, Ron!" she protested half-heartedly. She really did not want to attract Harry's attention to her. This was embarassing enough.

He sat down on her bed and opened it up. Finding the amusement park picture, he held it up. "That looks fun. Tell me about it."

She looked at him questioningly, but he seemed to be sincere. "Well, uh, that is a flume ride at an amusement park. You get in a little boat that floats on a man made little creek and at the end it goes down a really steep hill. It simulates going over a waterfall, I guess. It's quite a rush. You would like it. They take your picture at the steepist part when everyone is screaming. See, that's my dad and my mom is behind."

"Looks like you get wet. Your hair must have gone really bushy after that."

She grabbed the picture back, annoyed, but couldn't help but smile and admit, "Yes. Stop teasing me." He smiled at her, glad he was able to coax one out of her when she was so down.

He rifled through the pages and found the one with her and her dad. "Are you drinking chocolate milk? And your dad too? Seriously?" He shook his head, "You've been holding out on me!"

She smiled at the memory of her dad taking her to a specific dessert shop in London. "And mom! Look at the glass Ron. It's not normal. It was sooooo rich."

"Your dad, the dentist!" He was shaking his head.

"Surprising, isn't it? It was an outing just for the two of us. He took me there and had the waiter take our picture with this enormous glass of chocolate milk; actually, I think it was a milk shake, but it is the best thing I've ever tasted! After that, normal chocolate milk just didn't compare. If I was going to cheat, well it was going to be worth it he thought and a special occasion." She took the picture back and studied it, longingly.

Hearing their voices, Harry looked back into the tent, "If you two are staying up, I'll gladly go back to bed!" he called out annoyed. He adjusted the locket around his neck. _Why were they whispering? What wasn't he supposed to hear? His mind went over the possibilities and his own self doubt kept creeping to the surface. What the hell am I doing here freezing my arse off outside a tent in the middle of nowhere with no clue as to what I am doing? And I've dragged them along. No_, he corrected himself, _they chose to come along. If they're not happy about things, well, that was their choice._ He turned back to face the dark, dreary, soggy night, annoyed.

Ron lowered his voice a little more, "You'll have to take me there when this is all over."

She smiled defeatedly. "That seems like a long way off."

"It's really bothering you tonight. Me too. But, we can't give up. We don't exactly have anywhere to go, do we?"

"No, I suppose not. I certainly don't have enough money to get to Australia. I would be on the run no matter what. I just..."

"What?"

"I wish we had more to go on. We've got one Horcrux. It cost us a roof over our heads. We have no idea how to destroy it and no idea where to find the next one. It just feels like we're on a dead end street." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just down tonight."

He grimmaced. She had just taken the locket off. He knew she missed her family but the locket made it worse, and tonight, so did the rain. It had rained all day. It rained yesterday too and they were all on edge.

"We'll figure it out, slowly, obviously. But, we'll get there. We aren't the only ones trying to fight him, remember? We know more about what he's done, but there are lots of people who are against him. It's only a matter of time. I think we need to get more outside information though, disguise ourselves and get a newspaper, or, I don't know, something. It's the weather, you know. It's got us all a little depressed I reckon." He glanced down at the book. "You'll see them again, Hermione. I know it. It may be a while, but you'll see them again."

"What about you? You never talk about your family now." He had even stopped talking about his mother's cooking, probably because he always received a scowl from her though.

He shrugged. "If I talk about them, I start to miss them more." He held up a finger, just a minute fashion, and walked over to his rucksack and pulled out his jeans. He reached into the back pocket and retrieved his wallet and came back over with it and sat back on the bed with her. He opened it up and and showed her the picture of his family in Egypt."

"Ohhh. I remember that. I'm envious of you, getting to go there. Humph. You didn't bring a more updated one?"

"Actually, I did." He flipped over an insert in his wallet and inside a pocket he carefully withdrew one picture, leaving another still hidden away inside. He handed it to her with a faint pained smile.

Hermione took the photo and unfolded it. She gasped in shock. "Oh, Ron! How wonderful! When did you get this? It had to be quick." She studied the beautiful family portrait that now included Fleur, her arm intertwined with Bill's on their wedding day. Bill's face was tilted slightly away from the camera and you couldn't see the scars from the werewolf attack. Ginny looked absolutely stunning, Ron looked very handsome in his suit. Molly and Arthur looked so proud, and Fred and George were goofing around as usual in the back row. Charlie arrived late into the picture, handing Fleur her flowers, and tweaking his big brother's earing so it dangled back and forth in the shot. As the motion stopped and replayed, she noticed herself walking by with Ron as he was nabbed by Molly into the shot. She giggled and stepped out of frame with another red headed "Weasley" boy who was talking with Fred for a brief second before his twin wrapped his arm around his neck to pull him in for the shot.

"Oh, there's Harry and me too! I didn't know he was rolling already!"

"Yeah, me neither. I asked the photographer for a copy of a family shot right away since we were supposed to be leaving the next day. He noticed us dancing together and later when you went back to the table with Harry and I went to get the butterbeers, he called me over and asked me where I wanted the shot sliced. When I saw you and me and Harry in there, I thought that might be neat, so I included you both there. You know, kinda like family." _Bloody hell, why did I say that last part. I don't want her to think like family like a sister. Real smooth ya stupid git!_

"Thank you. It's nice to be included. That's so lovely, Ron. I miss your family terribly. They are...just wonderful."

"Yeah, well, I guess that's something we have in common that Harry doesn't. We've both lost our families for this. Harry has no memory of it the way we do. I think we would have, one way or another anyway, but I just don't want to rub salt in a wound and make Harry feel more responsible for everything. He's got enough on his shoulders."

"Seriously, if either of you want tent duty during the most miserable time of the night, you're welcome to it!" Harry looked suspciously in at both of them, sitting on her bed. _Just what were they discusing? The fact that he had no idea what to do next?_ Anger simmered in him. He decided to open the Marauders Map and look for Ginny.

"I'll relieve you at three in the morning. In the meantime, how I spend my time off guard duty is my own business!" Ron snapped. _He has the locket on, he's irritable too when it is on. Remember that._

"I guess we should get some sleep." She reached for his arm and held it as he stood up. "Thanks Ron, I needed a little distraction tonight."

He smiled and patted her hand. "Goodnight. Hope you can sleep." He began walking to his side of the tent. Behind the curtain he opened his wallet again to put back the wedding photo. In the same slot, he fingered the other picture he had in there that he hadn't shown Hermione. Ron grabbed his wand, "Lumos" he said so he could have a little light. He opened the other picture that the photographer had offered him on the side. Ron had immediately payed the man the five galleons for the picture and hid it in his breast pocket of his suit. If things went well, he would show Hermione. He hadn't shown it to her yet, but he hoped he would soon. A small wistful smile spread across his face as he stared longingly at the beautiful girl in a lavender dress, dancing in his arms. The couple in this picture looked like they hadn't a care in the world except for the person in front of them. The Ron in the picture said something to the Hermione in the picture. She laughed; her eyes sparkling, she threw her arms around him and hugged him and laughed more. He hugged her back.

Someday, he would show it to her. Someday.


End file.
